The way he answered is related to some comments from some haters in Spain that try to diminish is success, when he beats his teammates, they suck, when they beat Alonso, Alonso suck, he can't never do right for this kind of people. That's all. This examples he said about his teammates actually are quotes from people in Spain.

True but as you can see it also works for non Spanish people.

Anyway, I miss a bit of the interview in that transcription (thanks for the work btw) that I found interesting. He said he was happier this year because the team (him included) had been much better than in 2010, the structure, strategies, starts... He felt the team was now ready to fight for the championship and that they only need a competitive car to win it.

I dunno, but to me that interview sounds as if purposefully done just to piss off a certain kind of people even more than they usually are. And look how it works!

And I'm back. Actually if it was designed to piss off his "detractors", it backfired royally. I'm not pissed off because, when it comes to Alonso, that's par for the course. I don't expect anything better from him. Actually that's not, by far, the worse he's ever done. On the other hand his fans appeared pretty pissed off when I pointed out his latest indiscretion. But you guys are right, it's getting tiresome. The guy is a BS machine.

And I'm back. Actually if it was designed to piss off his "detractors", it backfired royally. I'm not pissed off because, when it comes to Alonso, that's par for the course. I don't expect anything better from him. Actually that's not, by far, the worse he's ever done. On the other hand his fans appeared pretty pissed off when I pointed out his latest indiscretion. But you guys are right, it's getting tiresome. The guy is a BS machine.

Just a few minor adjustments and it is AMAZING how true your statement becomes.

I'm not pissed off because, when it comes to CARDIN, that's par for the course. I don't expect anything better from him. Actually that's not, by far, the worse he's ever done. On the other hand HE appeared pretty pissed off when I pointed out his latest indiscretion. But you guys are right, it's getting tiresome. The guy is a BS machine.

And I'm back. Actually if it was designed to piss off his "detractors", it backfired royally. I'm not pissed off because, when it comes to Alonso, that's par for the course. I don't expect anything better from him. Actually that's not, by far, the worse he's ever done. On the other hand his fans appeared pretty pissed off when I pointed out his latest indiscretion. But you guys are right, it's getting tiresome. The guy is a BS machine.

Actually there are very few things a really hate and Alonso is not one of them. I enjoy F1 but it's not that important to me. Anyways, it doesn't bother much being called a hater. At least I've never seem you guys call anybody a whore like the Kimi crowd do(one instance is still there on the "Kimi close to F1 return" thread, page 122 post 4854). That's pretty disgusting and unacceptable but I guess it's just me. That's one thing that you can say I hate.

If I had to choose his worst season, I would say it is definetely 2004, his third season (that's when I became his fan, is not it funny? ) : A lot of overdriving and frustrated mistakes in some qualifying like Malaysia or Bahrain and in races like Monaco or Monza. Although that was also his unluckiest season too IMO: I remember Nurburgring when he had problems with the steering, going 3rd in USA after the Ferraris when his tyre exploded, in Canada going for a podium till he had to retire due to an hydraulic problem and leading Spa till that he spun off due to an engine oil leak and had to retire...

Despite all, I saw a LOT of potential in him, that together with his very unique driving style were the reasons because I became his fan. I just felt that when he had the car to win, he would really surprise. I remember watching Brazil 2004 and saying to myself "This guy is really good, a true diamond in the rough, he is going to be World Champion if he gets the car". And then 2005 season came and it was a nice surprise that the R25 was so good after a difficult year like 2004 and that Fernando was going to fight for the WDC.

From a personal point of view he reckons F1 has not changed him a lot, when someone reminds him Briatore's words "He doesn't enjoy success, he still looks at the prices when he wants to buy a new phone!", he answers "Yes, I'm a bit like that, a normal person. Formula 1 has given me a lot but I don't consider it my life but my job. If I'm more or less rich, more or less known, that's something I'm not considering right now. I just wish to keep being a normal person. And that has always surprised Flavio"

Alonso is also happy to be living back in Spain "Yes, I'm happy but I've never doubt that I would be able to do it. There's your job and there's your private live, different things." "I've never understand why should I tell the world where I've been having dinner or what I'm thinking in every moment. Facebook, Twitter..., I don't like nowadays trends"

From a sporting point of view, he reviewed this season. "From the beginning I knew RB was much faster than in 2010 but our car was also much more reliable". Even knowing that until Hungary "I kept thinking we have options because we hope new parts could change the behaviour of the car but it wasn't the case" Alonso also reveals one of the keys for Ferrari's performance in 2011. "The problem was the diffusers were the basis of 2011 cars for the big teams but we had started to work very late because of winter problems in the wind tunnel. We've been two or three races late for the whole season" One of the worst moments of the championship came in Barcelona, where he got to the first place just to finish one lap behind. In Montmelo "We even had to use parts from the January presentation! Each new part was a step back and we didn't understand why. We had to use parts from two or three races before that were already stored" Silverstone win generated some expectations for the future "Only there we could fight for the victory, the car was really good. In the other races we were behind McLaren and even Renault"

Despite all of this Alonso is optimistic "Good for the team, good for me, we were able to take the maximum from the car and race circumstances" For the Spanish driver "This has been my best season, we have fought for the second place until the last race in a car 300 points behind the Red Bull in the Constructors table" but he reckons "that has not been translated into results that people can be aware of" and he admits "certain level of frustration even when lots of things have worked well in many fronts inside the team"

From a personal point of view he reckons F1 has not changed him a lot, when someone reminds him Briatore's words "He doesn't enjoy success, he still looks at the prices when he wants to buy a new phone!", he answers "Yes, I'm a bit like that, a normal person. Formula 1 has given me a lot but I don't consider it my life but my job. If I'm more or less rich, more or less known, that's something I'm not considering right now. I just wish to keep being a normal person. And that has always surprised Flavio"

Alonso is also happy to be living back in Spain "Yes, I'm happy but I've never doubt that I would be able to do it. There's your job and there's your private live, different things." "I've never understand why should I tell the world where I've been having dinner or what I'm thinking in every moment. Facebook, Twitter..., I don't like nowadays trends"

From a sporting point of view, he reviewed this season. "From the beginning I knew RB was much faster than in 2010 but our car was also much more reliable". Even knowing that until Hungary "I kept thinking we have options because we hope new parts could change the behaviour of the car but it wasn't the case" Alonso also reveals one of the keys for Ferrari's performance in 2011. "The problem was the diffusers were the basis of 2011 cars for the big teams but we had started to work very late because of winter problems in the wind tunnel. We've been two or three races late for the whole season" One of the worst moments of the championship came in Barcelona, where he got to the first place just to finish one lap behind. In Montmelo "We even had to use parts from the January presentation! Each new part was a step back and we didn't understand why. We had to use parts from two or three races before that were already stored" Silverstone win generated some expectations for the future "Only there we could fight for the victory, the car was really good. In the other races we were behind McLaren and even Renault"

Despite all of this Alonso is optimistic "Good for the team, good for me, we were able to take the maximum from the car and race circumstances" For the Spanish driver "This has been my best season, we have fought for the second place until the last race in a car 300 points behind the Red Bull in the Constructors table" but he reckons "that has not been translated into results that people can be aware of" and he admits "certain level of frustration even when lots of things have worked well in many fronts inside the team"

Continues...

thank you very much for the translation, cant wait till the secon part well done

In a way I feel your pain, you've got nothing to work with this year. No scandals, happy in the team, performance judged very good to excellent whoever you ask... so yeah, I suppose bitching about interviews and ancient bedtime stories about the Trulli, the "Alonso killer" is about what you can do.

Nevermind, carry on, please don't threaten again to leave, I almost took you seriously and it gave me a real fright for a second! Thank God your sabbatical lasted less than one hour...

Alonso also admits "enthusiasm doesn't last the whole season and during the last part the motivation wasn't the same" but he doesn't consider age has changed him as a driver: "I was the same at 23 that I'm now at 28 or 30".Nevertheless for 2012 "we start from zero and with the diffusers and engine mapping changes things won't be the same". Besides, knowing this season's mistakes, "I think Ferrari will be strong. We made mistakes in the project and wind tunnel calibration. That's why we'll come stronger. Pat Fry's arrival brought new ideas and methods. Ferrari is much stronger now that a year and a half before."He also reckons the problems for the drivers and their driving style because of diffusers, fduct, tyres, DRS... "it has changed a lot this last two years because of technical modifications and it keeps changing. Much more than seven or eight years ago, nowadays each winter is like going back to school" Talking about rivals and focusing on Hamilton: "I've never had problems with him, we know each other and we respect each other, I'm aware of his merits and he's aware of mine, we know what we've got in common. We know what the other one is capable of with a car more or less competitive, and everyone has his own opinion about other drivers, that can only win with a great car. Hamilton is not like that, he has already proved that he's capable of winning with an inferior car" And he insists that only "two drivers can win" without having the best car. "With Vettel we'll have to wait, we'll see the real Vettel when with a sixth position car he finishes second or third. Until now we've seen him winning with a car capable of winning the world title five races before the end"

In a way I feel your pain, you've got nothing to work with this year. No scandals, happy in the team, performance judged very good to excellent whoever you ask... so yeah, I suppose bitching about interviews and ancient bedtime stories about the Trulli, the "Alonso killer" is about what you can do.

Nevermind, carry on, please don't threaten again to leave, I almost took you seriously and it gave me a real fright for a second! Thank God your sabbatical lasted less than one hour...

I know, it's a pretty good year for you guys to celebrate.

You got wrong. Fear not, I was not threatening to leave the thread for good. It was just momentarily, albeit it a little shorter than I thought it was going to take. Anyways, I'm flattered by your fear of me leaving the thread. Thank you.

You got wrong. Fear not, I was not threatening to leave the thread for good. It was just momentarily, albeit it a little shorter than I thought it was going to take. Anyways, I'm flattered by your fear of me leaving the thread. Thank you.

Alonso also admits "enthusiasm doesn't last the whole season and during the last part the motivation wasn't the same" but he doesn't consider age has changed him as a driver: "I was the same at 23 that I'm now at 28 or 30".Nevertheless for 2012 "we start from zero and with the diffusers and engine mapping changes things won't be the same". Besides, knowing this season's mistakes, "I think Ferrari will be strong. We made mistakes in the project and wind tunnel calibration. That's why we'll come stronger. Pat Fry's arrival brought new ideas and methods. Ferrari is much stronger now that a year and a half before."He also reckons the problems for the drivers and their driving style because of diffusers, fduct, tyres, DRS... "it has changed a lot this last two years because of technical modifications and it keeps changing. Much more than seven or eight years ago, nowadays each winter is like going back to school" Talking about rivals and focusing on Hamilton: "I've never had problems with him, we know each other and we respect each other, I'm aware of his merits and he's aware of mine, we know what we've got in common. We know what the other one is capable of with a car more or less competitive, and everyone has his own opinion about other drivers, that can only win with a great car. Hamilton is not like that, he has already proved that he's capable of winning with an inferior car" And he insists that only "two drivers can win" without having the best car. "With Vettel we'll have to wait, we'll see the real Vettel when with a sixth position car he finishes second or third. Until now we've seen him winning with a car capable of winning the world title five races before the end"

I'm guessing he's talking about himself and Lewis there. While I think Fernando has a lot of respect for Jenson, he must not think he can wring the neck of a bad car, the way he and Lewis can. Vettel...we'll see? I happen to think Sebastian can do so, as well.

PART II

Alonso also admits "enthusiasm doesn't last the whole season and during the last part the motivation wasn't the same" but he doesn't consider age has changed him as a driver: "I was the same at 23 that I'm now at 28 or 30".Nevertheless for 2012 "we start from zero and with the diffusers and engine mapping changes things won't be the same". Besides, knowing this season's mistakes, "I think Ferrari will be strong. We made mistakes in the project and wind tunnel calibration. That's why we'll come stronger. Pat Fry's arrival brought new ideas and methods. Ferrari is much stronger now that a year and a half before."He also reckons the problems for the drivers and their driving style because of diffusers, fduct, tyres, DRS... "it has changed a lot this last two years because of technical modifications and it keeps changing. Much more than seven or eight years ago, nowadays each winter is like going back to school" Talking about rivals and focusing on Hamilton: "I've never had problems with him, we know each other and we respect each other, I'm aware of his merits and he's aware of mine, we know what we've got in common. We know what the other one is capable of with a car more or less competitive, and everyone has his own opinion about other drivers, that can only win with a great car. Hamilton is not like that, he has already proved that he's capable of winning with an inferior car" And he insists that only "two drivers can win" without having the best car. "With Vettel we'll have to wait, we'll see the real Vettel when with a sixth position car he finishes second or third. Until now we've seen him winning with a car capable of winning the world title five races before the end"

Actually there are very few things a really hate and Alonso is not one of them.

Semantics. Personally I am very unhappy about the proliferation of the "hate" term particularly on this BB. I believe it's much too strong a word for the attitudes of the posters to whom this is often attributed. So in that sense I believe you that you are not an Alonso hater.

You do however, invariably show up and purposefully misunderstand any interview when it suits you to construct your Alonso strawman to bash. Of course you do this 100% selectively and never show up when there is a genuinely humble Alonso quote which does not fit your agenda, of which there are in fact many (e.g., the famous "maybe I am not the fastest driver over one lap" from 2009, or the recent quotes loudly lauding Hamilton).

The picture you paint is totally distorted, and in this sense you fulfill the requirements to be called a hater on this BB (even though, to repeat, I don't believe the term to be accurate wrt the usual meaning of "hate")

I enjoy F1 but it's not that important to me. Anyways, it doesn't bother much being called a hater. At least I've never seem you guys call anybody a whore like the Kimi crowd do(one instance is still there on the "Kimi close to F1 return" thread, page 122 post 4854). That's pretty disgusting and unacceptable but I guess it's just me. That's one thing that you can say I hate.

For that you are spending a surprising amount of time building your strawman in this thread.

I have read this thread and still can't see how some people find it so difficult to understand FA's response to Autoprix. He wasn't saying that he beat Trulli because he was (Trulli) old or finished, he was complaining that when he won some fans wouldn't give him any credit - they'd say that he was winning only because his teammates were rubbish

I have read this thread and still can't see how some people find it so difficult to understand FA's response to Autoprix. He wasn't saying that he beat Trulli because he was (Trulli) old or finished, he was complaining that when he won some fans wouldn't give him any credit - they'd say that he was winning only because his teammates were rubbish

I think this is an accurate description of the truth

Welcome. If you stick around long enough you will stop being surprised by cardin

I'm guessing he's talking about himself and Lewis there. While I think Fernando has a lot of respect for Jenson, he must not think he can wring the neck of a bad car, the way he and Lewis can. Vettel...we'll see? I happen to think Sebastian can do so, as well.

There seems to have been a bit of a love in between Fernando and Lewis lately. Maybe we will see a Fernando/Lewis lineup at Ferrari soon.

Why not. I think we are both Fernando fans, and I am confident that Fernando could beat Lewis. In a team where the team boss isn't fighting Fernando, surely he can do one better than the same number of points.

Why not. I think we are both Fernando fans, and I am confident that Fernando could beat Lewis. In a team where the team boss isn't fighting Fernando, surely he can do one better than the same number of points.

Sure, I would like to see this. People tend to see 2007 at McLaren as a dark moment for Alonso when in reality it was McLaren who lost the most. From the outside it always looked like Ron Dennis made life impossible for Alonso, maybe it had to do with spygate, maybe there is more to that than meets the eye.

An Alonso and Hamilton pairing at Ferrari would be very good, 2007 wasn't all that bad for them when it came to points and even though Fernando got the lower end of the stick the points tally for both was right there with 109 points, 4 wins each. Montezemolo likes Fernando, a lot, but I also read an article, possibly here were Hamilton was highly regarded by Montezemolo, or was it Domenicali? Anyway that pairing would be phenomenal, and with a good car better yet.

In a way I feel your pain, you've got nothing to work with this year. No scandals, happy in the team, performance judged very good to excellent whoever you ask... so yeah, I suppose bitching about interviews and ancient bedtime stories about the Trulli, the "Alonso killer" is about what you can do.

Nevermind, carry on, please don't threaten again to leave, I almost took you seriously and it gave me a real fright for a second! Thank God your sabbatical lasted less than one hour...

Montezemolo likes Fernando, a lot, but I also read an article, possibly here were Hamilton was highly regarded by Montezemolo, or was it Domenicali? Anyway that pairing would be phenomenal, and with a good car better yet.

Yes, sometime he said something like this but it was definitly before his bubble-season.

I think they could really do well together, the only reason why Fernando would 'lure' Lewis is because he feels he (Alonso) is up for it and I think that too, he really matured as a driver with the last wild hairs falling out in 2007. Could be an extremely interesting fight to watch with Ferrari as a good working environment, don't think that Alonso will get himself in another position where he has to throw out his toys out of the pram. But they'd be close, very close.

I think Alonso would destroy Lewis! Only have to take a look on this year result!

If I don't know or think it, you don't know or think it as well

Nah, the Alonso of 2011 at least would have a good chance against Hamilton, that's for sure!

@ the two guys above me: good videos, thanks for posting

Alonso really took some extra speed with the short tow + KERS and braked very late where Jenson backed out of it early. Not sure if Button already used up all his KERS, probably due to DRS. Anyone with info on that one?

I have read this thread and still can't see how some people find it so difficult to understand FA's response to Autoprix. He wasn't saying that he beat Trulli because he was (Trulli) old or finished, he was complaining that when he won some fans wouldn't give him any credit - they'd say that he was winning only because his teammates were rubbish